Home solar needs the right partner. GPS is there for you.
To understand how we offer the best solar price point in our markets, it starts with understanding the cost structure of a home solar project. I will speak below in general terms assuming the contractor is acting in good faith and not price-gouging customers.
The most expensive cost of any solar project is the obvious; the materials. The majority of the material cost comes from the solar panels, inverter(s), racking, and battery if applicable. In addition to the above materials each project has ‘balance of System’ components such as DC/AC disconnects, junction boxes, circuit breakers, wiring and more odds and ends electrical materials required to get the job done.
The second most expensive cost of any solar project is the labor to install the materials and bring the solar to life. Third, which I will elaborate on in a moment is the marketing expense to acquire new customers. In some markets where competition is thick, the cost of marketing can actually outweigh the cost of labor! Other costs include permitting, interconnection, supply chain, administrative & additional operational & overhead expenses.
When comparing apples-to-apples, as long as the companies are using the same exact products & the labor force is of the same caliber, there will not be a big gap in the hard costs (materials & labor). And as long as overhead isn’t tremendously different there should not be a significant difference in the soft costs (permitting, interconnection, overhead, etc).
At this point you may find yourself wondering, “if hard & soft costs should be nearly the same, how are prices so different from one company to another?” That’s where marketing costs come into play.
Most solar companies will get their customers from paid online advertising which is a great example of the ECON 101 supply & demand principle that I learned about in college. When multiple companies are reliant on the same online leads, and more companies come into the market, you have an increase in demand for buying these leads while the supply has stayed the same. When this happens, demand exceeds supply causing the cost for online leads to increase, which in turn forces companies to increase their prices in order to compensate for increased marketing costs.
But online advertising isn’t the only way to get new solar customers. How about another popular marketing practice, sponsoring an NFL or MLB team, or even NASCAR? Those sponsorships are in the millions of dollars, so how do solar companies afford this? Just like utilities pass along rate hikes to their customers, these solar companies pass these marketing expenses to their customers.
In short, the more expensive marketing is for the company you’re speaking to, the more expensive the price will be for their proposal.
So, now we can get back to the entire point of this article; how does GPS offer the best solar cost? Our concept is simple, focus on the people we work with both within our organization and our customer base. By providing an excellent work culture & solar buying experience, we’ve found the average homeowner & employee will refer 3 new homeowners to GPS in the first year of working together.
This means we don’t have to rely on increasingly expensive online leads or spending millions of dollars on sponsorship deals to get new customers. All we have to do is put our people’s best interest first and the rest will take care of itself.
Interested in seeing what it’s all about? Click this LINK to set up an appointment to speak with one of our solar advocates who will help you figure out whether or not solar is a good fit for your home.
